Breece Hall or Braelon Allen Start or Sit Advice for Week 8
The NFL might be the most volatile of the major American sports leagues on a week-to-week basis, so it wouldn’t be fair to rule teams out of the playoff race as early as Week 7. However, given that the New York Jets have missed the playoffs in 15 straight seasons and are 2-5 so far, it seems unlikely that their playoff drought will end in 2026. In fact, with the trade deadline coming up on November 10, the Jets are a potential team to watch.
For now, though, star running back Breece Hall is still on the roster. However, a quadriceps injury has limited him to just three games this season. In those appearances, Hall has recorded 51 carries for 163 rushing yards and one touchdown, along with 10 receptions for 102 receiving yards. He is averaging approximately 14.2 DraftKings fantasy points per game. In his absence, third-year pro Braelon Allen has stepped up, as he’s taken 91 carries for 418 yards and two touchdowns and 15 catches for 75 yards through the air (11.8 FPTS per game). By Pro Football Focus’ standards, Allen ranks 10th among 59 qualified running backs and Hall 34th. While Allen has gained 0.97 yards per attempt relative to expectations, Hall has lost 0.15.
Hall could make his return from the injury in Week 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders, as he’s been limited in practice and is expected to be listed as questionable for Sunday’s contest. Allen had been dealing with an ankle issue, but he was a full participant on practice on Friday, so he should be good to go for Sunday’s game. Allen appeared in fewer than three-fifths of New York’s offensive snaps in the three games that Hall played, but he’s played more than three-quarters of them in each of the last four weeks. The Jets might not be able to afford to sit him, especially since he’s a better pass-blocker than Hall.
I’m not sure if New York has seen enough in Allen to trade Hall, but it would make sense for Allen to retain his starting role this week and bring Hall in for a more limited role. The situation that the Carolina Panthers faced last season, when Rico Dowdle thrived in the two games Chuba Hubbard missed with a calf strain, split snaps almost evenly with Hubbard in the first two weeks after his return, and eventually usurped the starting role full-time. The Panthers chose Hubbard in the offseason, letting Dowdle sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Dowdle was the more fantasy-valuable of the two over the second half of the season. Hubbard doesn’t have quite the pedigree or reputation than Hall, and Dowdle had a larger professional track record than Allen does.
I’d be willing to start Allen against Las Vegas, which has allowed the seventh-most FPTS per game to opposing running backs this season. In fact, no team has allowed more rushing yards to the position than the Raiders have, so despite the fact that Hall is a better receiving back than Allen is, Allen is better-suited to attack Las Vegas’ biggest weakness. Plus, the Raiders aren’t a great tackling team, and Allen has forced 25 missed tackles (3.57 per game) while Hall has forced only nine (3.00 per game). There could be an argument for starting both, given that Las Vegas allowed at least 93 yards and a score to each of Kyren Williams and Blake Corum last weekend, but I’ll stick with just Allen.
